Maghera business park proposals under fire from residents

Mid Ulster District Council is facing significant local opposition to its plans to redevelop the former Maghera High School site as an industrial park.

To date well over 1,000 objections have been lodged over the council’s proposals, with none so far in support.

Residents want the former school site to become a public park. The Maghera Park Action Group is campaigning against the council’s plan. It has argued that the local authority’s scheme would result in the loss of “vital open space within a town where provision already falls far short of the council’s own minimum standard”.

The council has submitted two applications for the site. One, in outline, would approve a business park with up to eight serviced sites that will allow qualifying businesses to construct their own purpose-built facilities ranging in size from 371 square metres to 1,858 square metres.

The second application is for detailed permission for site preparation works including the removal of undergrowth and the provision of roads, utilities and fencing to secure the site.

The council said the land on the Tobermore Road had been earmarked as an industrial site to address a gap in the availability of industrial land locally and to meet an identified demand from local businesses. The site is close to both the A29 and A6 roads.